Chores For Screens

My husband and I try to do a reasonable job balancing a lot of things in the lives of our children.  One of those things is television/iPad/game time, commonly known as “screen time.”  My children have evolved in the whole screens realm over the last year or so.    

First, they watched television, then they liked being more interactive on an iPad.   Now, my daughter can’t see the television at all and only wants to do the iPad where as my son has added in the additional WiiU game console as an additional thing he likes to do.    My daughter can and does like the game controller, mostly because the controller has its own screen and she can play close up.   But my son really gets the Mario and Donkey Kong video games and she’s just likes to mess around from time to time. 

The thing about all of these ways to spend time is they would be an easy first choice to the children than, say, putting a puzzle together or doing something outside if we let them be universally available.   So we put in limits.   

With exceptions I can count on one hand, I don’t allow the devices to go out to meals or be brought to the table.  We decided some time back that iPads wouldn’t be available on week days, only weekends, which brought about the frequented question, “is it iPad day?”  More recently my husband and I decided we should turn screen time into a privilege that could be earned any day of the week.  

This was going to be dead easy for my daughter because she loves to help and doesn’t need any reward for doing so, ever.  My so however is highly motivated to do something to get iPad time on a school day.   Or so he says.    We shall see how it goes…

The Big Boy Update:  My son came upstairs, hearing I needed help with things and he could earn iPad time.  I told him he could help with the dishes and he quickly got out three bowls and put them on the counter where I indicated.   He then said, “okay, can I have the iPad now?”   I explained one minute of helping only got him one minute of iPad time and that when he completed a job he could have the iPad.   He was livid.   He was so angry I had to send him to his room.   When we looked for him later when dinner was ready we couldn’t find him.   It turns out he was under the table and dreaming in the main dining room.   This morning he said he would like to help me with laundry tonight.   I told him I’d wait to fold it until he got home. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came upstairs to help with the dishes.   She carefully got out all the different pieces and placed them on the counter near the cabinets they go into.   She put all the utensils into the drawer using a stool and then helped put each item into the cabinets where they are stored.   Some of the items like storage containers needed to be dried.   She helped dry them and then placed them away.    When she was done I let her use the iPad until bath time.